Between 1943 and 1945, in World War II, Wewak was the site of the largest Japanese airbase in mainland New Guinea.

The base was subjected to repeated bombing by Australian and American forces, most notably in one massive attack on 17 August 1943.

Directly to the west of the town centre is a peninsula known as Cape Wom, which was the site of the surrender of Japanese forces in New Guinea on 13 September 1945.

First Lieutenant Takehiro Tazaki was convicted and sentenced to death (later commuted to 5 years imprisonment with hard labour) and another accused was acquitted.

[2] The old centre of the town is on a small peninsula, with the rest of the urban area occupying a narrow band of flat land between the ocean and the coastal range of mountains that emerges a short distance inland.